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Bud Shootout and Lawsuits

An Opinion



February 4, 2009

By Chuck Abrams

Chuck Abrams
This week is a meandering of thoughts rolling around in my head before the racing season starts this weekend beginning with the Bud Shootout.

NTSB Puts Blame On NASCAR For Plane Crash

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found NASCAR responsible for the plane crash in 2007 that killed Bruce Kennedy and four others in Florida. Kennedy was the husband of International Speedway Corp.(ISC) president Lesa France Kennedy.

The report blamed NASCAR for letting the plane take off without checking an electrical problem that evidently caused an onboard fire in-flight that led to the crash.

Investigators said NASCAR kept poor maintenance records and had no system in place for ensuring that incident reports were addressed properly.

That is a huge oversight on NASCAR’s part.

Last fall, NASCAR settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the pilot’s family last year for $2.4 million. NASCAR’s insurance company is also involved in pending suits for the people killed on the ground during the crash. NASCAR has also sued Cessna for reimbursement of their payouts saying that Cessna is responsible because their instructions for inspections on the aircraft were inadequate. So basically, Cessna is negligent because of a faulty plane.

Never mind that the pilots had reported the electrical issue and took off knowing that there had been a problem.

The NTSB did not blame Cessna for any wrongdoing.

This does not bode well for NASCAR with the lawsuit’s final outcome. But maybe this will make them take some responsibility for their improper actions.

Budweiser Shootout Has New Format

The screwed up Bud Shootout is this weekend and while it is a mess of a race, at least it is a race. We will forget the unconventional format once the green flag falls, I hope.

Once we recover from that race, the real thing, the Daytona 500 pre-race events starts with qualifying for the front row on Sunday and the Twin 150 Gatorade Duels races on Thursday, Feb 12. You can catch the races, formerly known as Twin 125’s, on SPEED channel. For the uninitiated, the Gatorade Duels set the field for the rest of the Daytona 500. The 500 is the only race that qualifies this way and while an odd system, it is more similar to qualifying heat races that you might see on any given Saturday night short track race throughout the country. But as this is NASCAR, the system isn’t all that simple and it has all of it’s own odd rules and qualifications.

But it makes for an exciting week of racing that leads up to the Great American Race. And that is what is all about.

Barring freezing temps, I don’t expect to see any empty seats at Daytona, but the track had to greatly reduce ticket prices on the backstretch to guarantee a sell out. Many other tracks around the country have also reduced ticket prices to entice fans to the track in the current economic climate. Good luck folks.

Look for empty seats at the second race in Fontana, California. Even if NASCAR asks the networks to refrain from focusing on the empty seats, it is a story and NASCAR can’t put its head in the sand on this one.

Personally, I think NASCAR and the tracks ought to do some national PR, to give away some seats and heavily promote lower ticket prices. And not just for seats on the backstretch, make that for some of the highly coveted front stretch seats. The economy sucks folks, cut Joe 4-pack a break.

I know some tracks have cut their prices but I think they could be doing a better job of promoting it. NASCAR should take the lead and not just throw it back on the local tracks.

That’s my take this week. Enjoy the Shootout!

Drive fast, turn left and keep the shiny side up.

Feel free to send Chuck your thoughts on this and other race topics at Insider Racing News.
You Can Read Other Articles By Chuck Abrams

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.

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